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A BRIEF ACCOUNT 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



BY THE 



Rev. DAVID GREENE JIASKINS, 

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 




NEW YORK: 

E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY, 
713 Broadway. 

1877. 



TO THE FRIENDS OF EDUCATION AT THE 

SOUTH. 



The institution described in the accompanying pamphlet 
appeals for aid to the friends of education at the South. 

To meet its immediate and pressing necessities, an effort 
is now making to raise ten thousand dollars by individual 
subscriptions of one hundred dollars each, payable within 
a year. 

An acknowledgment of all benefactions will be made in 
the annual Calendar of the University. 

Address 

The Rev. D. G. HASKINS, Cambridge, Mass., or 
Vice-Chancellor GORGAS, Sewanee, Tenn. 







A BRIEF ACCOUNT 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



BY THE 

Rev. DAVID GREENE HASKINS, 

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 




NEW YORK : 

E. P. DUTTON" & COMPANY, 
713 Broadway. 

1877. 






\ ^ (o « Bit} 



THE UBTIVEBSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



Although the University of the South had its origin in 
a movement which, twenty years ago, attracted general 
notice, as well from the magnificence of its scheme as from 
the character and influence of those engaged in it, and is 
still widely and deeply cherished in the hearts of the 
southern people, yet very little is known at the North 
either of its history or of its present condition. It would 
seem to be necessary, therefore, in entering upon a descrip- 
tion of the institution, to begin with a brief recital of the 
leading facts respecting it. 

AN OUTLINE SKETCH OP THE INSTITUTION. 

The university is located at Sewanee,* on the beautiful 
plateau known as the Cumberland Table-land, in Franklin 



* " The term Sewanee is of Indian origin. It appears, that a tribe, having crossed 
the southern Mississippi from west to east, occupied successively lands bordering 
on the Gulf of Mexico, as far east as Georgia and Florida, and gave their name to a 
river in each of these States; whence migrating northward, they reached the grand 
table-land of the western range of the Appalachian chain, to which they gave their 
name, Sewanee This range is now called Cumberland. The river, also, now known 
as the Cumberland, was called by these Indians, Sewanee. This is the same tribe 
which, going farther north, at last settled in the north-west, and has been known as 
the Shawnees. An exploring party from Virginia, in 1748, gave to the mountain and 
river the name of Cumberland, in honor of the Duke of Cumberland. The term 
Sewanee, most happily restored, is now given to that portion of the Cumberland 
Table-land which comprises the ten thousand acres granted to the University of the 
South."— Address by W. G. Dix, 1859, p. 8, note. 



6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

county, Tennessee ; or, to describe its situation with refer- 
ence to the routes of travel, it lies seven miles north-east of 
Cowan, which is a station of the Nashville and Chattanooga 
railroad, about eighty miles distant from Nashville and 
sixty-five miles from Chattanooga. A branch railroad 
from Cowan to Tracy City has a station on the university 
grounds. 

The institution is owned and controlled by the dioceses 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church comprehended in the 
ten States lying south and south-west of Virginia and 
Kentucky. 

It was first formally established by the official action of 
those dioceses, in a joint representative convention, held 
on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, July 4th, 1857; and was 
incorporated by an Act of the General Assembly of the 
same State, passed January 6th, 1858. 

The Board of Trustees of the university is composed of 
the Bishops having jurisdiction in the above-mentioned 
States, together with one clergyman and two laymen chosen 
from each of the dioceses in the same, and holding office 
for the term of three years. 

The enterprise contemplated the foundation of a great 
university, equal to any in America or Europe, which 
should embrace schools of the highest order in every 
department of literature, science, and art, accessible on 
equal terms to persons of every faith, and offering to the 
young men of the South the advantages of the best educa- 
tion without the necessity of separating themselves by 
thousands of miles from their homes. It was commonly 
felt, that the interests of the South required an institution 
of this character, and that the means necessary to secure it 
could easily be obtained by united effort. The project, 
therefore, was received with general favor, and even with 
enthusiasm; and the work of establishing the university 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 7 

was begun with every prospect of complete and brilliant 
success. 

But, at the very beginning of its career, the institution 
encountered the outbreak of that civil war which proved so 
disastrous to all interests at the South. The event was 
almost fatal to the nascent university. During the four 
vears of excitement and conflict that followed, there were 
no meetings of its governing Board of Trustees ; the tem- 
porary buildings, in which it was entering upon its work, 
were burned ; the colossal block of native marble, which 
had been laid with imposing ceremonies as the corner-stone 
of its central edifice, — a building which was to have cost 
three hundred thousand dollars, — was broken into fragments, 
which were carried away as relics ; its endowment of half 
a million of dollars was, in great part, lost ; in fact, hardly 
anything remained to it but its charter, and a magnificent 
but unoccupied domain of ten thousand acres of land. 

At the close of the war, however, the trustees lost no 
time in resuming the enterprise, and in attempting to carry 
out, though in a humble way, the aims of its projectors. 

In March, 1866, with the purpose of dedicating the site 
anew, the present Bishop of Tennessee, accompanied by 
only three other persons, sought out, in the wilderness, the 
spot where, six years before, the vast concourse had assem- 
bled at the laying of the corner-stone. Having planted a 
rude cross in the earth, the four united in repeating the Te 
Deum and the Lord's Prayer, after which the Bishop said 
a few appropriate collects and pronounced the Benediction. 

Soon after, the Bishop, with the concurrence of the Board 
of Trustees, and by the help of funds which he had solic- 
ited for the purpose, entered upon the erection of a hall 
for the junior department of the university, and of such 
other buildings as were needed for the accommodation of 
the pupils and teachers. 



8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

The next year, an effort was made in England to obtain 
assistance for the university, immediately after the sessions 
of the Lambeth Conference, which resulted in generous 
contributions from many, both of the clergy and of the 
laity. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and 
large numbers of the nobility and gentry, united in making 
the offering worthy of the object, and a substantial expres- 
sion of sympathy and brotherhood. 

The means received from this quarter enabled the trustees 
to take another and important step forward, and, in Septem- 
ber, 1868, the junior department of the university was put 
into operation, though upon a very moderate scale, the num- 
ber of pupils, at the beginning of the term, being only nine. 

Since then, however, the institution has developed, in 
every department, with the most remarkable rapidity, sur- 
passing the expectations even of those who knew how 
deeply it was seated in the affections of the people. The 
applications of pupils for admission have, at times, exceeded 
the accommodations provided for them. 

The following table exhibits the maximum number of 
students in each year since the opening: 

Year. No. of Students. 

1868. 14. 

1869. 107. 

1870. 170. 

1871. 225. 

1872. 230. 

1873. 235. 

1874. 224. 

1875. 243. 

1876. 243. 

Of the two hundred and forty-three students whose 
names are in the university calendar for 1875-6, one hun- 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 9 

dred and forty-six are university students, ninety-two are 
boys in the preparatory school, and five are students of the 
theological school. All of the States interested are repre- 
sented among the pupils, and there are also students from 
four of the northern States. 

But the extraordinary increase of the institution necessi- 
tated expenditures which it had not the ability to meet. 
In the face of this emergency, in 1875, recourse was again 
had to the friends of the university in England. The 
Bishop of Tennessee, at the instance, and under the com- 
mission, of the Board of Trustees, spent several months in 
that country, making known the wants of the university. 
The object received the cordial indorsement of the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury; and a committee, of which the 
Bishop of London was chairman, was organized to assist 
in carrying it out. The mission was eminently successful, 
adding more than forty thousand dollars to the available 
resources of the university. 

ITS SITUATION AND SURROUNDINGS. 

From this outline sketch of the institution we pass now 
to describe more particularly its situation and surround- 
ings. 

The Cumberland Table-land, on which the university is 
located, is one of the grand natural divisions of Tennessee. 
It is a continuation of the long belt of highlands which 
extends from the North River, through the southern part 
of New York, through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, 
Kentucky, and Tennessee, into Alabama, where it finally 
sinks away. This belt, on reaching Tennessee, through 
which it passes obliquely, becomes flattened on the top, 
and forms a connecting highway from Kentucky, on the 
north, to Alabama, on the south, having an average width 
of about fifty miles. A traveller might pass over its entire 



10 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

length without once descending, and even without discov- 
ering, that he was at an elevation of some eight or nine 
hundred feet above the plain on either side of him, and 
some two thousand feet above the level of the sea. 

Far, however, from being a monotonous and barren level, 
this plateau is diversified with low ridges and shallow 
valleys, covered, in many places, with oaks, Ghestnuts, hick- 
ories, and other forest trees, and abounds in springs, which 
well up from the sandstone capping of the belt, and occa- 
sionally issue forth in crystal streams. Buried in its bosom 
are exhaustless treasures of coal, and iron, and marble, 
which have been, here and there, opened, and yield large 
profits to those who are engaged in developing them. Two 
of the most promising coal mines are situated upon the 
university lands, and have been leased for a term of years. 
The quality of this coal is said to be superior to any in the 
State. It is free-burning, very hard, and cubical. It 
resembles the best of Pittsburgh coal, and is probably a 
good gas coal. It is deep black and shiny, and shows a 
beautifully laminated appearance. About thirty thousand 
bushels of coal are taken out of these mines annually, the 
greater part of which is consumed at the university. 

There are, also, many large and well-improved farms 
scattered over the table-land, the soil of which is specially 
favorable to the growth of fruits, particularly of grapes 
and apples. 

The climate of this region is so healthy and agreeable 
that persons from all parts of the South' are attracted by it, 
and hundreds of summer residences, public and private, 
are to be found here. At several points, as at Beersheba, 
Lookout, and Bonair, noted for their chalybeate springs, 
large hotels have been erected, clustering around which 
are numerous tasteful and even elegant cottages, forming 
charming mountain villages. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH 11 

The surface of the plateau breaks off suddenly, on either 
side, in sandstone cliffs and precipices, varying from one to 
two hundred feet in height. These form a well-defined, 
and sometimes overhanging, cap to the steep slopes, which 
run down from it, some six or seven hundred feet, to the 
plain below. The eastern side of the table-land presents 
a nearly straight or gracefully curving line, without inden- 
tations in its entire length. The western border, on the 
contrary, is irregularly notched by deep coves, or valleys, 
separated by long and bold spurs jutting to the north- 
west.* 

One of the most southerly of these spurs, measuring nine 
miles in length by two to four miles in breadth, and cover- 
ing an area of about ten thousand acres, is Sewanee, the 
property and the site of the University of the South. 

The traveller is first brought face to face with the natural 
features of this beautiful region during the half hour's ride 
on the branch railroad which connects Cowan with the 
university grounds. The grade of this road ranges from 
one hundred and forty to one hundred and eighty feet to 
the mile. In the ascent to the summit of the table-land at 
Sewanee, every variety in the surface and vegetation and 
scenery of the mountain-slope is successively brought into 
view, and, the track being tortuous, the effect of surprise 
is produced by every change in the character of the land- 
scape. Leaving open and cultivated fields, the train enters 
beautiful woods, where, in some places, the trees grow to a 
great height, and their loftiest branches are often heavily 
festooned with the foliage of the wild grape. Sometimes, 
it crosses ravines, which, in summer, open vistas brilliant 
with every variety of flowers ; again, it cleaves ridges, or 
passes under high cliffs, whose perpendicular surfaces are 

*See "The Geology of Tennessee," by J. M. Safford, ph.d., m.d.; also, "The 
Resources of Tennessee," by J. B. Killebrew, a.m., assisted by Dr. Safford. 



12 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



clothed with a vesture of ferns, mosses, and lichens. Just 
before the university station is reached, the road passes 
through a deep and narrow gap, or fissure, in the capping 




RAILROAD GAP. 



of the plateau, which furnishes one of the most picturesque 
views of its scenery. Still farther on, a sudden slope to 
the plain, eight or nine hundred feet below, opens a pros- 
pect which, though soon passed, fills the beholder with 



astonishment and delight. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



13 



Here, however, the characteristics of mountain scenery 
disappear, and those of the table-land begin. 

In the presence of overshadowing mountains, we are al- 
ways more or less conscious of an assertion of the supremacy 
of physical over intelligent nature, which, perhaps for the 
reason that it meets the resistance of our faith, exerts a 
depressing effect on the spirits. But, on the mountain 
summit, the conditions are reversed. Man, not nature, is 
there in the ascendant, and all the influences of the position 
are happy and inspiring. 

This change of feeling is sensibly experienced on arriving 
at Sewanee. The exciting emotions of the ascent find an 
agreeable relief in the simply rural and tranquil aspects of 
the plateau. 

Passing through the small but thriving village, which 




THE CHANCELLOR'S HOUSE. 



has sprung up around the university station, the visitor 
presently finds himself in a beautifully wooded, undulating 



14 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



park, free from underbrush, and with wide and well-made 
roads running in every direction. This is the reserve of 
one thousand acres of the domain, set apart for the exclu- 
sive occupation and uses of the university. 

Pleasantly located, at not remote distances from each 
other, are some forty or more cottages and houses, exhibu- 




THB VICE-CHANCELLOR'S HOUSE. 

ing very much the same variety in style of construction, 
and the same taste in their flower-gardens and general sur- 
roundings, that distinguish the residences in the best suburbs 
of our great cities. These houses are generally built on 
four-acre lots, leased for a long term of years, at an exceed- 
ingly moderate annual rent. They are, for the most part, 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



15 



owned and occupied by the professors, and by families of 
refinement and culture gathered from various parts of the 
South, many of whom, reduced in circumstances by the 
war, obtain support by supplying homes to the students of 
the university, or to the boys of the preparatory school 
attached to it. Several of the trustees of the university, 

'Ml 

at: 







THE HAYES MANSION. 

also, have residences here, which they occupy during the 
summer months. 

In a position somewhat central to the dwellings described, 
is the college chapel, having seats for about five or six 
hundred persons ; and, clustering around it, are the various 
halls used for university or school purposes. These are of 
wood, but it is hoped they will soon be replaced by struct- 
ures of stone. 

Not far off, rises a beautiful edifice, now nearly completed, 



16 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH 



built of light-brown freestone from the university quarries, 
and designed for a library. The architecture is Gothic, with 




details after the style of the period of Queen Anne. The 
walls are very substantial, with porch, cornice, and gable- 
windows, entirely of cut stone. The interior is finished 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



17 



with an ornamental gallery, and has alcoves above and 
below, with accommodations for forty or fifty thousand 
volumes. Connected with the library are a reading-room, 
a working-room, and various offices. It is being erected 




CHANCEL OF ST. LUKE'S CHAPEL. 

at the expense of the Rev. Telfair Hodgson, of Hoboken, 
N.J. 

In another direction, workmen are now employed in 
building, of the same beautiful freestone, a divinity school, 



18 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

to be called St. Luke's Theological Hall. It is one hun- 
dred and forty-six feet in length, and its architecture par- 
takes of the Early English character. It will contain three 
large lecture-rooms, a chapel, a room for the theological 
library, forty-two bedchambers, and twenty-one studies. 
The arrangement of the rooms has been made with special 
regard to securing light and air, and excellent taste is man- 
ifested in all the details of their construction. 

This hall is the gift of Mrs. Henry Heywood Manigault, 
and is designed to be a memorial of her father, the late 
Lewis Morris, of Morrisania, N\ Y. The same lady gave 
five thousand dollars to endow a scholarship in connection 
with this school. 

The plans of both the above buildings were designed by 
Mr. H. Hudson Holly, architect, of New York City. 

Besides the chapel where the families connected with the 
institution worship, there are two churches in Sewanee, — 
St. Paul's on the Mountain, and St. Luke's, which is a 
church for colored people. There are also several excel- 
lent boarding-houses, and a small hotel. Arrangements 
are making for the construction of a large hotel, for 
the better accommodation of the great number of sum- 
mer visitors. 

The population of Sewanee, which has wholly gathered 
since the war, exclusive of the students and families con- 
nected with the university, is about twelve hundred. 

There is a weekly newspaper published here, called The 
Sewanee News. 

At Moffat, a few miles distant, there is a private institu- 
tion, of high character, for the education of girls, under the 
charge of two accomplished matrons. 

In respect to natural scenery, Sewanee is unsurpassed by 
any other portion of the Cumberland Table-land, and pains 
have been taken to present its attractions in a pleasing and 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



19 



impressive manner. Before the war, when the trustees, 
with ample means at their disposal, were desirous to prepare 
the site for the purposes for which it had been granted, 
they invited the late Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont, who 
was hardly less distinguished for his artistic tastes than for 
his wide and varied learning, to undertake the direction of 




THE NATURAL BRIDGE. 

the laying out of the grounds, and the planning and loca- 
tion of the required buildings. The Bishop arrived at 
Sewanee early in December, 1859, and spent three months 
upon the mountain, in company with Colonel Barney, the 
skilful engineer and general manager of the university 
estate, occupying "the best of a set of log-houses" as 
headquarters, and devoting himself to making surveys, 
drafting maps, locating highways and buildings, besides 



20 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 



painting water-color sketches of favorite views.* To his 
taste and judgment the university owes the convenient and 
harmonious disposition of its roads, and especially the 
beautiful and often striking effects of landscape and scenery 
on the Corso, a drive of fifteen miles around the borders 
of its domain. 

Among the points of interest reached by the Corso, or by 




**">»'"/,„; 



SPRING ROCK. 



the roads or paths connecting with it, are the peculiar and 
picturesque formations known as the Natural Bridge, Proc- 
tor's Cave, Morgan Steep, Pulpit Rock, the Lovers' Leap, 
and the Cloisters, or deep-vaulted arches of rock, which 

*See " The Life of Bishop Hopkins," by his son, the Rev. J. H. Hopkins, d.d. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 21 

overhang some of the springs that abound in this favored 
region. 

An interesting account of the flora of Sewanee, written 
by General E. Kirby Smith, professor of mathematics in 
the university, concludes as follows : 

" The flora of Sewanee forms a connecting link between 
the North and South. Forms characteristic of the high- 
lands and the Green Mountains and Adirondacks mingle 
with forms from the Gulf and Atlantic slopes, and with 
occasional wanderers from the trans-Mississippi. Southern 
types of leguminosse, northern and western composite, 
delicate polygalas, and showy gerardias, hypericums, 
euphorbias, aenotheras, graceful bluets, and humble 
hepaticse, meet on this common border-ground, and claim 
fellowship for every section of this great republic." 

ITS INTERNAL ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT. 

Having introduced the reader to the outward aspects of 
the institution, we shall now speak more directly of the 
university itself, and particularly of its internal organiza- 
tion and management. 

The highest governing power of the university is the 
Board of Trustees, which is composed after the manner 
already stated. The chairman of the board is the chan- 
cellor of the university. This office is at present held by 
the venerable Bishop of Mississippi. The regular annual 
meeting of the trustees begins on the Saturday preceding 
Commencement, which is the first Thursday in August. 
Its sessions usually extend over several days. 

The resident governing body of the university consists 
of the vice-chancellor and the hebdomadal board, or faculty, 
composed of the professors. It pertains to this body to 
report to the trustees whatever measures it may deem 
necessary for the good of the institution. 



22 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

The vice-chancellor, who is elected by the trustees, is the 
administrative head of the university, and has control over 
all its departments. This responsible position is now filled 
with distinguished ability by General Josiah Gorgas, a 
graduate of West Point, who was, for many years, connected 
with the Ordnance Corps of the United States. 

The other officers of the university are : The Rev. W. P. 
DuBose, m.a., s.t.d., chaplain ; John B. Elliott, m.d., health- 
officer; Colonel T. F. Sevier, proctor; Samuel G. Jones, 
treasurer; G. R. Fairbanks, m.a., commissioner of build- 
ings and lands. Faculty: General J. Gorgas, Professor 
of Engineering and Physics; John B. Elliott, m.d., Profes- 
sor of Chemistry; Caskie Harrison, m.a., Professor of An- 
cient Languages and Literature; F. Schaller, m.a., Profes- 
sor of Modern Languages and Literature ; General E. Kirby 
Smith, Professor of Mathematics ; the Rev. G. T. Wilmer, 
d.d., Professor of Metaphysics and English Literature; T. 
F. Sevier, acting Professor of the School of Commerce and 
Trade; John Lowry, a.m., acting Professor of Elocution 
and Composition. School of Theology : The Rev. D. G. 
Haskins, a.m., Dean (elect) ; the Rev. G s T. Wilmer, d.d., 
Professor of Systematic Divinity ; the Rev. W. P. DuBose, 
m.a., s.t.d., Professor of Exegesis and Homiletics ; the Rev. 
D.G. Haskins, a.m., Professor(elect) of Ecclesiastical History. 

The plan of education in the university is by separate 
schools for each branch of knowledge. Diplomas of gradu- 
ation are awarded in these schools, and a certain number of 
diplomas, of specified combinations, is required for the 
different university degrees. The more important schools, 
only, are as yet organized. Others will be added as soon 
as the required means can be obtained. Students are not 
usually allowed to matriculate in the university until they 
are seventeen years of age. The required dress is the 
academic cap and gown. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 23 

There is a preparatory school attached to the university, 
which is divided into four forms, each form ordinarily occu- 
pying one year. The course of instruction embraces the 
studies usually pursued in schools designed to prepare boys 
either for the university or for commercial life. Boys are 
admitted at any age. 

Prizes, known as the Lovell prizes, are annually awarded 
to those of the pupils who excel in any of the branches 
taught. The boys wear a uniform of gray cloth. 

The scholastic year, which is equally divided into two 
terms, begins about the middle of March and closes the lat- 
ter part of December, thus bringing the long vacation into 
the winter. The fine summer climate of Sewanee enables 
the authorities to continue instruction through the warm 
months, and parents prefer to have their sons at home in 
the winter rather than in the summer, when malarial influ- 
ences generally prevail in southern latitudes. 

The study terms and vacations, as well as the charges 
for board and tuition, are the same, both in the university 
and in the preparatory school. 

In respect to the charges for board and tuition, the state- 
ments of the university calendar cannot fail to arrest the 
attention of persons who are acquainted with the cost of 
education at similar institutions. 
The annual expense for board, tuition, washing, 

lights, and medical attendance, is put down at $320.00 
To this amount is added the average outlay for 
clothing, books, and personal expenses, as ob- 
tained by a careful official examination of the 
accounts of forty of the students, - - - 129.00 

Giving, as the total of all expenses for the year, - $449.00 

The excellence of an institution cannot, of course, be 
gauged by its rates for board and tuition. But prices are 



24 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

largely affected by local causes. The site of this university, 
as will appear in the sequel, was chosen, among other con- 
siderations, with regard to the facilities for procuring the 
necessaries of life in abundance and at the lowest cost. 
Whatever advantage, therefore, it enjoys from the fore- 
thought of its founders, in this respect, may properly have 
a place among its claims to public favor. 

There are no common dormitories either for the university 
or for the school. The college students, as well as the 
boys, find their homes, in companies of from five to twenty, 
with the families which have been referred to as occupying 
houses in the vicinity of the college buildings. The ap- 
pointments and supplies for their accommodation, however, 
are minutely prescribed by the by-laws, and are, at all times, 
subject to the inspection of the university proctor. 

The domestic and social influences thus secured, far from 
being felt as a restraint, are intelligently appreciated and 
enjoyed by the older pupils, and have a marked effect in 
imparting good manners and correct habits to the boys. 

The ladies of the families with whom the boys make 
their home charge themselves with special care for their 
health, and, in accordance with the requirements of the 
statutes, report the earliest symptoms of illness to the 
health-officer of the university. 

A short daily morning service is held in the chapel, with 
a full choir composed of students. The students of the 
university, as well as the pupils of the preparatory school, 
are required to attend this service. 

Though the institution has been in operation for so brief 
a period, yet it has already attained no little distinction, 
both for the thoroughness of its instruction and for the 
efficiency of its discipline. The former is, doubtless, in 
part explained by the large use made of the black-board 
in recitations; the latter, by the military training and 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 25 

methodical habits of the governing head of the univer- 
sity. 

But what is most noticeable in the moral aspects of the 
university, is the respectful but easy bearing of the boys 
and students toward their teachers and professors; and, 
not less on the part of the latter, the general interest and 
attachment manifested toward the youth of their charge. 

It is impossible to overestimate the advantages of a 
system of education in which those who teach permit and 
encourage a free and agreeable intercourse between them- 
selves and their pupils. In the closeness of such a relation, 
the teacher acquires a knowledge of the peculiarities of 
disposition, and tastes, and talents, and character, of those 
under his care, which he could obtain in no other way, and 
is therefore able to conduct their education in the most 
intelligent and satisfactory manner; while the pupil is 
naturally led to place confidence in his teachers and to seek 
their society, and thus becomes unconsciously moulded by 
their influence. It is a remark of Mr. Stuart Mill, that 
" there is nothing which spreads more contagiously from 
teacher to pupil than elevation of sentiment ; often and 
often, have students caught from the living influence of a 
professor a contempt for mean and selfish objects, and a 
noble ambition to leave the world better than they found 
it, which they have carried with them throughout life." 

It is only where such a system prevails that the personal 
qualities of those in authority can be expected to have 
much influence, or that the best results of either christian 
or intellectual education are attainable. The explanation 
is, that this system is copied after the divine model of the 
family, which is God's school for the children of men, and 
reproduces as fully as practicable the relations of parents 
to their offspring. 

We believe, it is the lack of the results of a system like 



26 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

this, more than of religious instruction beyond the simple 
facts and precepts of Christianity, that is a great cause of 
the dissatisfaction felt by many with the public school 
system at the North. 

With these views, we cannot but express the strong hope, 
that nothing in the development of the university will lead 
to an exchange of the grounds of parental and filial com- 
panionship upon which its older and younger members now 
so happily meet, for those of mere dignity on the one side, 
and of mere respect on the other. 

ITS EARLY HISTORY. 

The early history of the institution is the record of one 
of the most interesting educational movements of the 
age. 

The university was first suggested, and the plan of it 
outlined, in a pamphlet bearing date July 1st, 1856, ad- 
dressed by the late Bishop of Louisiana to his brethren in 
the chief pastorate of the Episcopal Church in the States 
of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, 
Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. 

A brief summary of this document, which is too long to 
give entire, will enable the reader to form a general idea 
of its character. 

After calling the attention of the Bishops addressed to 
the spiritual and intellectual needs of the people of the 
vast territory embraced within their combined fields of 
labor, — a territory larger than the original thirteen States 
of the Union, and containing a population of nearly six 
millions of souls, — and after speaking of their obligation 
to do more than they had hitherto attempted in the direc- 
tion of supplying those needs, the writer offers the sugges- 
tion, that they should unite in an effort to establish some 
system ol educational training and instruction for the 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 21 

younger portion of their charge, in both academical and 
theological learning. 

Referring to the existing schools and colleges of the 
South, he acknowledges, that, in some instances, they are 
striving, with eminent and honorable success, to meet the 
wants of the community. But, whatever their excellence, 
they are not upon a scale sufficiently extended or full to 
enable them to compete with institutions abroad, or even 
with those of the highest grade in the northern States. 
They are therefore set aside, and parents are obliged to 
expatriate their sons, or to send them beyond the reach of 
their supervision and of the religious influences of home, to 
be exposed to the rigors of an unfriendly climate, and to 
surroundings not calculated to promote their happiness. 

Nor have we any institutions, he adds, fairly within our 
reach, where our children, when they pass from under the 
parental eye, are kept under the influence of those christian 
principles and that church instruction to which we pledged 
them in baptism, which we have accepted, and hold, as the 
essence of Christ's religion, and which we would transmit 
in their vigor to them and to our latest posterity. 

He gives the opinion, that the system to be adopted 
should contemplate, not only collegiate instruction of the 
highest order m every department of learning, but also the 
establishment of a school of theology, with the view of 
raising up a ministry from among the people whom they 
are to serve. 

He remarks, that, as the States in which they are sever- 
ally interested are new, — some of them but of yesterday, — 
it cannot be expected that any one of them alone should be 
able to supply the great and common want. But what they 
cannot do singly, they may, with great ease, do collectively. 
Union of action would give them an institution embracing 
schools of the greatest excellence in every branch of knowl- 



28 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

edge, equal to any on this continent, or even in Europe, 
which would have the effect to raise the standard of teach- 
ing in all the common schools of the South, and contribute 
to the intellectual development and social elevation of the 
whole population. 

He expresses the belief, that the time was opportune for 
founding such an institution as he had described, one in 
which they should have a common concern, and which 
should be under their joint control; and that nothing was 
wanting but the hearty consent and cooperation of the 
several dioceses now appealed to, to insure for it one of the 
most successful careers that ever attended an educational 
enterprise. 

He then proceeds to indicate, within certain limits, the 
very place where the proposed university might most prop- 
erly be located. He shows, that a wide system of railroads, 
traversing all the States in question, unites and terminates 
at the southern extremity of the Alleghany range in Ten- 
nessee, by which citizens from all those States could be 
brought together in from thirty-six to forty-eight hours. 
This remarkable fact, he thinks, would seem to indicate 
these highlands as the region for their union and coopera- 
tion. 

In conclusion, he suggests, that the meeting of the Gen- 
eral Convention, at Philadelphia, the ensuing autumn, 
would be a suitable occasion for those whom he addressed 
to hold a personal conference on the subject ; and he gives 
his views as to the manner in which the institution ought 
to be organized, and its support provided for. 

Bishop Polk's letter has been generally and justly ex- 
tolled for its admirable spirit, for the breadth of its views, 
and the practical good sense of its suggestions. But its 
crowning distinction is, that it first called attention to the 
duty of the Episcopal Church, in large districts, where the 



THE UNIVERSITY OF TEE SOUTH. 29 

centres of population are small and widely scattered, to 
secure, by combined diocesan action, institutions under its 
own control, conveniently located, and of the very highest 
order, for the education of the young in both secular and 
sacred learning.* 

The pamphlet was cordially received by the Bishops, 
and, in accordance with its closing suggestion, it was, sub- 
sequently, thoroughly considered and discussed by them, in 
council, during the sessions of the General Convention held 
at Philadelphia, in October of the same year, 1856. 

Their deliberations resulted in an address to the members 
and friends of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the 
dioceses which they represented. The key-note of this 
communication is, naturally, the same as that of the letter 
which had inspired it. The address, however, presents the 
subject of the university, not as a suggestion, but as a well- 
considered plan already decided upon. 

After speaking of the insufficiency of the seminaries of 
instruction at the South, and of the necessity of intelligence 
and culture to the maintenance of republican institutions, 
it enlarges upon the duty of the Church to reciprocate the 
benefits it receives from the State, by providing educational 
facilities for the young, calculated to enlighten the adminis- 
tration of the civil government, to consolidate its power, 
and to perpetuate its duration ; and it refers to the 
Presbyterians at Princeton, to the Congregationalists at 
Yale, to the Unitarians at Harvard, and to the Method- 
ists and others elsewhere, as furnishing an example, in 
this respect, worthy to be admired and imitated. Refer- 

* The Bishops of Michigan, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Wisconsin, 
Western Michigan, Hlinois, and Fond du Lac, have recently, after fall conference 
and consideration, decided to adopt Racine College, Wisconsin, as the collegiate 
institution of their respective dioceses, with the determination to make it a " Church 
University for the West and North-west." For this purpose, they have been made 
trustees and visitors of the College, with powers accorded by statute. 



30 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

ring to the history and present condition of the coun- 
try, it says, that, in no time in all the past, has there 
been such a call to put into operation agencies and institu- 
tions whose influence would tend to make fast the founda- 
tions of the State, to secure a sound and healthy social 
condition, and to keep in force the great principles of our 
holy religion. The address continues as follows : 

"In view of this state of things, we, your Bishops, 
during our sojourn in this city, in attendance on the General 
Convention, have thought it expedient to take the subject 
into our serious consideration, and have come to the con. 
elusion, it is of so pressing a character that no time should 
be lost in relieving it ; and that for its relief in the most 
effectual manner no plan presents itself of so promising a 
character as that w T hich would unite the energies and 
resources of all our dioceses in one common effort. We 
have therefore resolved, after mature deliberation, and 
consultation with leading clergymen and laymen of our 
several dioceses, to propose to you to unite our strength in 
founding an institution upon a scale of such magnitude as 
shall answer all our wants. This, we propose, shall be a 
university, with all the faculties, theology included, upon a 
plan so extensive as to comprise the whole course usually 
embraced in the most approved institutions of that grade, 
whether at home or abroad." 

The magnitude of the enterprise, in all its aspects, is then 
fully discussed, and confidence is expressed, that the re- 
sources of every description necessary to carry it out are 
within reach, and will be forthcoming as soon as they shall 
be needed. 

Incorporated in the address are certain articles agreed 
upon by the Bishops, having reference to the character and 
plan of operations of the proposed institution. The most 
important of these are as follows : 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 31 

" The university shall, in all its parts, be under the sole 
and perpetual direction of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
as represented by the dioceses uniting in its formation, thus 
securing unity in its administration, as indispensable to its 
success." 

" The Board of Trustees shall be composed of the Bishops, 
ex officio, so uniting, and of one clergyman and two laymen 
from each of said dioceses, to be elected by the same. The 
joint consent of the Bishops, and of the clerical and lay 
trustees, shall be necessary to the adoption of any measure 
proposed." 

"The sum of $500,000 shall be the least amount with 
which the enterprise shall be commenced." 

" There shall be a treasurer appointed in each diocese, to 
whom shall be paid the sums subscribed in that diocese, 
whose duty it shall be to vest those sums in unquestionable 
public securities, paying over annually to the treasurer of 
the corporation the interest of the amount subscribed." 

" There shall be a treasurer of the corporation, who shall 
receive the interest annually from the diocesan treasurers, 
and expend it under the direction of the board." 

" The university shall be established at some point near 
Chattanooga, where the railroads traversing our dioceses 
converge, thus rendering access to it from every direction 
easy and speedy." 

The address concludes in these words : 

" We have thus, dear brethren, presented and developed 
a measure which we regard as the most important ever 
presented to the American Church. For ourselves, we are 
deeply persuaded, that it far transcends, in the promise of 
its usefulness, any merely local or diocesan enterprise that 
it would be possible for our dioceses to get up separately ; 
and that its combinations are of a character to ensure 
always to our children and our children's children, to many 



32 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

generations, the largest and most varied amount of oppor- 
tunity for intellectual culture, as well as the soundest moral 
and religious influence, it is in our power to provide for 
them. To do this, is to make the best investment for our 
posterity, and to lay upon the altar of our country the 
most appropriate offering that could be tendered by the 
citizen or the Christian." 

This address was dated Philadelphia, Oct. 23d, 1856; 
and was signed by Bishops Otey, of Tennessee; Polk, of 
Louisiana ; Elliott, of Georgia ; Cobb, of Alabama ; Free- 
man, of the Diocese of the Southwest (Arkansas and 
Texas) ; Green, of Mississippi ; Rutledge, of Florida ; Davis, 
of South Carolina ; and Atkinson, of North Carolina. 

It was widely distributed in the South, and the proceed- 
ings of the conference were also made known by the 
personal reports of the Bishops and other delegates, on 
their return from the General Convention. The rectors, 
too, of the various parishes in the dioceses interested, 
brought the address to the attention of their congregations. 
Thus a general interest in its recommendations was at once 
awakened. It was a time of unusual business prosperity 
at the South, and the pecuniary ability of the combined 
States to carry out the undertaking was not questioned. 

The need of a university of the highest order, with pre- 
paratory schools, and schools of law and medicine and the- 
ology, attached, was real and extensively felt ; nor was any 
dissatisfaction expressed by the public with regard to the 
control of the institution by the Episcopal Church. On 
the contrary, the organization of that Church was generally 
regarded as particularly adapted to the conduct of such an 
enterprise, and many persons outside of its communion 
were glad to have secured to the university the indirect 
but unequivocal religious teaching of the Book of Common 
Prayer used in a daily service. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 33 

The very magnificence of the proposed scheme inspired 
enthusiasm for it, and, in every quarter, measures were taken 
to secure its realization. Cities, and towns, and corpora- 
tions vied with each other in offers of land and money to 
influence the location, and individuals competed in disin- 
terested and generous rivalry toward its endowment. The 
zeal which the Puritans of New England displayed in the 
founding of the first college at Newtown (Cambridge) was 
reproduced, though under more favorable circumstances, 
on the plantations of the South. 

The first step taken in the direction of formally estab- 
lishing the university, according to the plan of the Bishops, 
was the action of the several associated dioceses in choosing 
delegates, the following spring, — one clergyman and two 
laymen on the part of each diocese, — to serve in connection 
with the Bishops of those dioceses collectively, as the Board 
of Trustees. 

The board, thus constituted, met for the first time on 
Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, July 4th, 1857. 

Both the place and the time were well calculated to give 
impressiveness to the occasion, and to attract attention to 
the work to be inaugurated. 

It had been arranged, that the morning of the first day 
of the session should be devoted to exercises appropriate 
to the commemoration of our national independence, and 
Bishop Otey had been appointed to deliver an oration. 

A hotel, known as the Mountain House, had been agreed 
upon as a rendezvous. Here the trustees, with several 
hundreds of persons interested in the object, assembled. 
A procession was formed, and moved to the spot selected 
for the ceremonies, which was a chestnut grove, close upon 
the mountain's edge, and commanding a view unsurpassed 
in extent and loveliness. A band accompanied the proces- 
sion, which was headed by a soldier of the Revolution, 



34 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

named Rezin Rawlins, bearing a flag of historic memories, 
the staff of which had been cut by President Fillmore from 
near the grave of Washington. 

The exercises began with the singing of the hundredth 
Psalm by the whole assembly. "The effect," we are told, 
" was to fill every heart with deep and unutterable emotion. 
The great mountain seemed to speak, creation to be vocal 
with the truth." 

After other appropriate religious services, the Declara- 
tion of Independence was read, and "The Star-Spangled 
Banner " was played by the band. Then followed the ora- 
tion by Bishop Otey, which is said to have been in the 
highest degree patriotic and eloquent. 

During its delivery, an incident occurred, which, trivial 
as it appears in the record, seems to have contributed, in a 
remarkable degree, to the power of the speaker's words. 
When the venerable orator, rising to his full height, his whole 
frame expanded with deep emotion, began to discourse in 
tones of bold and fervid eloquence of our country, and of 
the love which all good men bear to it, the folds of the 
flag, which, thus far, had hung idly from its staff, were 
caught up by the breeze, and seemed, for some moments, as 
if they would wrap themselves around him. " As the ora- 
tion proceeded, warm tears filled many an eye, and would 
not be repressed." 

In the afternoon of the same day, the trustees met for 
organization. 

Bishop Otey was elected president of the board, and the 
Rev. Henry C. Lay, of Alabama, now the Bishop of Easton, 
Maryland, was elected secretary. 

The affairs of the university were discussed; but, as it 
was Saturday, an adjournment took place without farther 
official action. 

Monday the trustees reassembled early. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 35 

The several articles incorporated into the address of the 
Bishops, having reference to the basis of union between the 
dioceses, and prescribing the rules to be observed in the 
establishment of the university, had been prepared as a 
declaration of principles, or constitution ; and it was deemed 
of primary importance, that this document, with its pre- 
amble, should receive the assent and subscription of each 
member of the board. Attention, therefore, was first given 
to this declaration, each principle being separately consid- 
ered and voted upon. 

The only article that encountered serious opposition was 
that requiring that the endowment of five hundred thousand 
dollars should be held as capital, never to be drawn upon to 
meet any of the expenses of the institution. But, after 
discussion, the objections to it were finally withdrawn, and 
the declaration of principles, with only slight variations 
from its original form, was adopted and signed. At the 
afternoon session, after other business, a committee, con- 
sisting of one member from each State, was appointed to 
collect information in regard to the location of the pro- 
posed university ; also, a committee of three, to prepare a 
charter. Both committees were instructed to report at the 
next meeting of the board. 

The board then adjourned. 

In what remains, to be told, the interest of the history 
chiefly centres upon the doings of the principal committees 
of the board, beginning with those whose appointment has 
just been mentioned. 

It will supply the connecting thread of the narrative to 
state, that, between the gathering on Lookout Mountain, in 
1857, and the breaking out of the civil war, in 1861, there 
were five other meetings of the Board of Trustees, lasting 
from three to six days each, held as follows : at Montgomery, 
Ala., in November, 1857; at Beersheba Springs, Tenn., in 



36 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

July, 1858; at the same place, in August, 1859; at New 
Orleans, La., in February, 1860 ; and at Sewanee, Tenn., in 
October, 1860. There was also a meeting at Columbia, S. 
C, in October, 1861. 

The committee to obtain information concerning a loca- 
tion for the university entered upon their duties immediately 
after the adjournment of the board at Lookout Mountain, 
and visited, in person, several of the sites that had been 
offered. It was felt, however, that, considering the impor- 
tance of the issues involved, it would be more satisfactory, 
both to the board and to the public, to have the judgment 
of a scientific commission in respect to the physical advan- 
tages of the various localities which had been presented for 
their acceptance. 

An able corps of engineers was therefore organized, who 
at once put themselves in communication with the authori- 
ties of the different corporations, and towns, and cities, 
which were desirous of securing the location of the univer- 
sity in their respective neighborhoods. 

A printed list of inquiries, covering every point having 
a bearing upon the questions to be determined, was put 
into the hands of the commission, with instructions to 
return full answers to them in regard to every place 
visited. 

The committee's report, which was presented to the 
trustees at the meeting at Montgomery, includes the pro- 
ceedings of this commission. The places visited were 
Huntsville, Ala. ; Atlanta, Ga. ; Chattanooga, Sewanee, 
McMinnville, and Cleveland, Tenn. The results of the 
investigations of the commission were given in detail. The 
report also contained letters from individuals, and from the 
corporations and municipalities referred to, offering contri. 
butions in money, ranging from forty to one hundred 
thousand dollars, besides large grants of land, mining 






THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 37 

privileges, etc., to influence the location of the proposed 
institution. 

This report, which was submitted to the board without 
recommendations, came up, in order, on the second day of 
the session, and was discussed for two days, the advocates 
of the different sites being admitted to a hearing. The 
fourth day, after seventeen ballots had been had, a resolu- 
tion adopting Sewanee as the choice of the trustees was 
unanimously passed. The convention of the diocese of 
Alabama, however, having subsequently expressed dissatis- 
faction with the selection of a mountain site, the question 
of location was reconsidered at the next meeting of the 
board, at Beersheba Springs, in July, 1858. But, after 
another and exhaustive discussion of the subject, all 
parties were satisfied, and, again, Sewanee was chosen as 
the site for the university. 

The trustees, in a pamphlet addressed soon afterward to 
the friends of the university, give, at some length, their 
reasons for the choice. They enumerate, among the re- 
quirements that had to be met in their decision, first, a 
position central and accessible to the States interested; 
secondly, a situation of unquestionable healthfulness, with 
an abundant supply of freestone water, and surrounded by 
a farming country providing the necessaries of life at a 
moderate cost ; and thirdly, a location in' which intellectual 
labors admit of being pursued with comfort and without 
interruption during the entire summer months. These 
requirements, they claim, are most satisfactorily answered 
in the place chosen. It is central and accessible. The salu- 
brity of the climate is beyond question. It is free from 
fevers of all kinds, is above the region of cholera, and has 
numerous springs of freestone water. The remarkable 
dryness of the air is evinced by the entire absence of moss 
and of parasites living upon humidity, as well as by the free- 



38 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

dora from decay of the fallen timber. In consequence, 
pleurisy and pneumonia are almost unknown. 

In summer, the mornings and evenings are always cool, 
and, at mid-day, the range of the thermometer rarely ex- 
ceeds 80° Fahrenheit ; while the winter climate is far less 
severe than at our northern colleges. The studies of the 
university may therefore be conducted with equal advan- 
tage in any part of the year. 

The site is also in the immediate neighborhood of the 
richest agricultural region of Tennessee. 

In reference to the question of social intercourse for the 
professors and students, the trustees say, that, if within the 
limits to which they were restricted, they could have found 
a city of fifty or of one hundred thousand inhabitants, com- 
bining with the refinements of large towns the facilities 
which cities afford for the conduct of life, and offering, at 
the same time, undoubted healthfulness, the board would, 
no doubt, have accepted such a location. But no such city 
offered itself, and the alternative was the neighborhood of 
a small town, or the creation of a social atmosphere of its 
own by the university. When it was reduced to this, the 
board almost unanimously agreed, that it would be prefer- 
able to create a society around the university, which should 
receive its tone from it, and be, in a measure, dependent 
upon it. 

They express the opinion, that, apart from the industrial 
growth of the place, the families of the students will have 
strong inducements to settle around the university. These 
families will attract others, and, very soon, it will exhibit 
the same aspect as West Point does in summer, — with this 
superiority, that, besides the transient visitors, who will 
take this spot en route for the southern springs and north- 
ern cities, there will be a much larger settled population 
spending the hot months on the plateau. The chances 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 39 

are, that there will be too much, rather than too little, 
society. 

By the vote accepting this location, the university came 
into possession of its valuable domain of ten thousand 
acres. Of this, five thousand acres, together with certain 
lumber and mining rights, and privileges of transportation, 
were a grant from the Sewanee Coal Mining Company, of 
New York City ; and the remaining five thousand acres 
were the gift of Mr. Grey, a wealthy gentleman of Franklin 
county, and of other residents of Tennessee. 

A draft of a charter for the university was presented to 
the board at its meeting in Montgomery, by the committee 
having that subject in charge, and was formally accepted. 
A blank had been left for the name of the institution, 
which was filled by the words, The University of the South. 
Three other names were considered ; namely, The Church 
University, The University of Sewanee, and The Southern 
University. The latter would probably have been chosen, 
but it was found to be already appropriated by another 
institution. 

Another subject, not inferior in importance to the choice 
of a site for the university, and which occupied the atten- 
tion of the trustees for a much longer period, was the adop- 
tion of a plan of education, and of a code of by-laws, 
for the institution. This subject had been assigned to a 
committee, previously appointed to draft a constitution, of 
which the Bishop of Louisiana was chairman. The final 
report of its proceedings was delayed by the arduous char- 
acter of the duties involved in its preparation, until the 
meeting of the board at New Orleans, in February, 1860. 
This document states, that the first care of the committee 
was to obtain possession of the programmes, and to exam- 
ine the working machinery, of the most eminent institutions 
of learning in our own country and in Europe. It acknowl- 



40 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

edges the liberal aid and cooperation of our national gov- 
ernment, in putting the committee in communication, 
through our foreign embassies, with the highest sources of 
information in England, France, and the German States. 
To the valuable publications thus obtained were added the 
systems adopted and pursued in our own country. From 
a careful investigation and comparison of this mass of 
material, and from personal inspection of the practical 
operation of the most distinguished American universities, 
the committee obtained the views which they wrought into 
the constitution and statutes they presented. 

The committee say, that the plan of education they have 
presented does not follow entirely any existing system, but 
is eclectic, embracing features which are found in the most 
distinguished universities of Europe, and others which 
belong to systems widely different. They combine harmo- 
niously, however, and form an aggregate of all that a 
university, in the largest sense, ought to supply. 

We have already, in part, explained, that the studies in 
the university are not arranged for a prescribed term of 
years, but that instruction is given in separate schools, or 
departments of knowledge, of which thirty-two are named 
in the statutes, and in which diplomas are awarded upon 
examination, — certain numbers and combinations of 
diplomas being required for the different university de- 
grees. 

The preparation of the code of statutes and by-laws, 
which was presented and accepted at the same time with 
the plan of education for the institution, was also a work 
of no little labor, especially as a legislative act, additional 
to the act of incorporation, had recently conferred upon 
the trustees authority to establish such police and munic- 
ipal regulations as might be necessary to maintain law 
and order in the university domain. It is provided, how- 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 41 

ever, that offenders against the laws of the land shall be 
left to the civil officer, if claimed by him. 

It may be in place here to mention, that no lessee of the 
university is allowed to sell intoxicating liquors, to permit 
gambling, or to suffer any business to be conducted on his 
premises which is injurious to the general welfare of the 
university. 

The only other topics of interest which our limits will 
allow us to touch upon have connection with the measures 
taken to obtain endowments for the university. 

At the earnest solicitation of the trustees, in session at 
Beersheba Springs, in July, 1858, the Bishops of Louisiana 
and Georgia had consented to serve as commissioners to 
canvass the several States interested for subscriptions to 
the institution. 

As soon afterward as their duties allowed, the commis- 
sioners issued a printed communication to the friends of 
education at the South, which was well calculated to secure 
a substantial expression of the general feeling in favor of 
the enterprise. It has also the special value for the general 
reader, that it unfolds, more fully than any other document 
in the college archives, the magnificence of the scheme of 
the proposed university. 

The summary of even a brief portion of this able paper 
will show how practical and far-reaching are the views 
which it presents. 

After illustrating the principle adopted by the trustees, 
that the endowments of the university should be always 
preserved inviolate, the commissioners say, that, hitherto, 
in undertakings of this sort, much of the fund collected 
has been expended in buildings, and but little has been left 
to pay the professors, and enlarge and advance the institu- 
tion. Our colleges have been got up upon too small a 
scale, and their originators have been in too great a hurry 



42 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

to put them into operation. We have determined to avoid 
these evils. We have bound ourselves not to take a single 
step till we shall have secured five hundred thousand dol- 
lars, and we expect to have a very much larger sum to 
begin with. 

This secures us from having a petty affair upon our hands ; 
and we shall take our time in putting the institution into 
operation. An oak, that is to stand the storms of centuries, 
does not grow up in a day. The records of Oxford reach 
back to the reign of Henry III. Harvard is almost coeval 
with the landing of the Pilgrims. While, therefore, we 
shall lose no time in the execution of our work, we shall 
not permit ourselves to be hurried forward faster than 
either our means or our wisdom shall direct. We are, from 
the organization of the Episcopal Church, a perpetual body. 
If one trustee dies, another as good as he, as wise as he f as 
learned as he, can be found to take his place. Our plans 
will be arranged upon the largest scale, our curriculum will 
be made as extensive as literature, and science, and art, 
and religion, and the advancing civilization of the world, 
shall require. Our scheme will be sketched out, in its final 
consummation, upon the most perfect ideal ; but we shall 
fill up, for the present, only such part as our means will 
allow us to complete, and leave it for those who come 
after us to finish the detail, as they shall see the neces- 
sity and possess the power. We shall thus secure to the 
South an institution of the very highest grade, and raise up 
a body of scholars of whom no country need be ashamed. 

This paper was issued February 24th, 1859. In August 
of the same year, the commissioners reported to the board, 
at Beersheba Springs, that they had given as much time 
as could be spared from their parishes and dioceses to the 
work assigned to them ; that, as yet, their attempts to collect 
funds had been, of necessity, almost wholly confined to 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 43 

Louisiana; but that their appeals had been everywhere 
received with such an intelligent appreciation of their pur- 
poses, and with such a generous liberality, that they felt 
authorized to say, that they considered the endowment of 
the university as secured beyond question. 

The amount they reported as received, in available funds, 
was $363,580. Besides this, they reported as pledged by 
entirely responsible parties, but not yet secured by bonds 
or notes, $115,000. 

The report having been accepted, a resolution was passed, 
authorizing the chancellor, as soon as he should be informed 
that the commissioners had raised the entire amount of the 
primary endowment of $500,000, to call together the execu- 
tive committee, to take preliminary steps for the begin- 
ning of active operations, and to make arrangements for 
the laying of the corner-stone of the main building, at 
such time as should seem most likely to suit the conven- 
ience of the country. 

In accordance with the above resolution, at a meeting 
of the executive committee, held July 19th, 1860, the chan- 
cellor gave notice, that the commissioners had secured the 
full sum of $500,000 for the endowment. 

The announcement was not unexpected, and Wednesday, 
the 10th day of October next ensuing, was appointed for 
the laying of the corner-stone. 

At this time, a building of wood, two hundred feet long, 
surrounded by a broad piazza, had already been constructed 
to supply offices for the university; and the Bishops of 
Louisiana and Georgia, and Mr. G. R. Fairbanks, the 
present commissioner of lands and buildings of the univer- 
sity, had each built tasteful cottages on the college grounds. 
Other temporary buildings were now put up, and every prep- 
aration was made for an immediate beginning of work on 
the central edifice of the university. 



44 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

The mountain, for a time, became a busy place. The 
members of the executive committee were fully occupied, 
at first, in preparing advertisements for all the leading 
journals of the country, soliciting proposals from architects 
and contractors for designs and estimates for the univer- 
sity building, and, subsequently, as responses to these 
advertisements were received, in examining and comparing 
them. The plan of the building which they finally decided 
on was drawn by Mr. Anderson, an architect of Washing- 
ton, D. C, and was estimated to cost about $300,000. 

Invitations to attend the laying of the corner-stone were 
sent by the chancellor to the friends of the institution in 
every quarter of the country. The interesting ceremony 
occurred on the day appointed, and was witnessed by an 
assemblage of between five and six thousand people. 

An oration was delivered on the occasion by Gen. John 
S. Preston, of South Carolina, and addresses were made by 
many of the invited guests. 

But, at this interesting crisis, the supply of materials for 
the narrative abruptly ends. The oration of Gen. Preston 
was never printed ; and the late records of the university, 
including most of the surveys, maps, designs, and other 
valuable papers belonging to the institution, were destroyed 
by the flames, to which every building on the mountain was 
consigned during the war. 

With the culmination of enthusiasm at the laying of the 
corner-stone, the curtain falls on the early history of the 
University of the South.* 



♦The writer gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the Rt. Rev. Alex- 
ander Gregg, d.d., Bishop of Texas, and to Major G. R Fairbanks, commissioner 
of lands and buildings of the university, for the use of many valuable docu- 
ments. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 45 

For a period of four years, the mountain was enveloped 
in the clouds which spread darkness over the whole South. 
But when, at length, they lifted, it was made apparent, that 
the Spirit of God had been in the darkness, for " old things 
were passed away, behold, all things were become new." 

Without dwelling, however, upon the religious or politi- 
cal aspects of the results of the war, we shall only speak 
briefly of its influence upon the policy and prospects of the 
university. 

At the close of the period of darkness referred to, the 
university had to mourn the general impoverishment of the 
country, the loss of nearly all of its endowment fund, the 
bankruptcy of many of its warmest friends, and the death 
of five of the most able and devoted of its original trus- 
tees. 

It should also be stated, that a condition in the deeds by 
which the university held its domain made it imperative, 
that the institution should be put into operation within ten 
years from the date of their execution, and that this period 
was rapidly drawing to a termination. 

Under these circumstances, the board, at its first meeting 
after the close of the civil war, felt constrained to provide 
for a change in the constitution, permitting the use of any 
funds that might be available, for the erection of buildings 
for the university. 

At the same meeting, the executive committee was 
authorized to establish and put into operation a prepara- 
tory department on the university grounds. 

But, except in regard to what is involved in this forced 
departure from the principles avowed by the trustees from 
the beginning, namely, that the institution should not be 
started till an endowment of five hundred thousand dollars 
should be in hand, and that this endowment should be held 
forever intact, all the original laws, statutes, and rules of 



46 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 

the university are fully accepted and enforced ; and, in the 
practical workings of its organization and plan of instruc- 
tion, as well as in the advantages of its location, the insti- 
tution is to-day enjoying the fruits of the forethought and 
wisdom and patient labors of its founders. 

Nevertheless, it still feels the effects of the adverse cir- 
cumstances under which it entered upon its working career. 
It is contending with poverty. Its annual revenues — which 
are mainly derived from its tuition fees, its rents, the inter- 
est accruing from what remains of its original endowment, 
and the yearly offerings of the parishes in the States to 
which it belongs — hardly reach the sum of twenty-five 
thousand dollars. Its means, therefore, are entirely inade- 
quate to the demands of its wide and rapidly increasing 
patronage. It needs a permanent University Hall, with 
rooms for lectures, and recitations, and museums of art and 
natural history. It needs a large and well-appointed build- 
ing for the preparatory school, and a chapel of stone, in 
place of the wooden one which it now occupies. It needs 
more professors and teachers. It needs the instruments 
necessary for imparting instruction in civil engineering and 
astronomy. It needs apparatus of all kinds. It needs 
books, especially books of reference, for its library; and 
reviews, and magazines, and newspapers, domestic and 
foreign, for its reading-room ; in fact, it needs almost all the 
equipments of a large university. 

Nevertheless, it is doing its work faithfully and hopefully, 
and is exerting an extensive influence for good. 

Though the institution belongs to the Episcopal Church, 
it is not under the control of any single diocese, but of 
many dioceses, which is a perpetual guaranty, that it will 
give no encouragement to extremes either of opinion or of 
practice ; at the same time, its advantages and its honors 
are equally open to pupils of every faith. 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH. 47 

In all its aims and efforts, it is in the fullest accord with 
the spirit of the new era upon which our country is enter- 
ing ; and we know of no institution that has stronger claims 
upon the sympathy and respect of the friends of education 
either at the North or South. 



